SA 2008-2 JOURNEY

JOURNAL : November 18 to December 5

Part 8: November 27, 2008 - TYGERBERG to PORTERVILLE

much abbreviated and expurgated - especially where original was illegible

Since I had watched "Pretty Woman" after midnight, I woke up and had breakfast with fresh mushrooms at a decent time,
then departed Tygerberg Villas at 09:15, Km 759,0 and 019070. I first dropped by Amanda at Oostersee and sent some more Emails, which each took 3 tries, so that I left there at 10:30 after paying R 10 and getting a free cup of coffee.
A quick note in my journal states: N1 to R 44 to Wellington then R 301 to Wolseley, and my intended final destination for today, Gouda (same name as the Dutch village also known for cheese!).

please click to enlarge

Wellington looked charming and colorful with purple jacarindas and mountains in the background. I decided not to continue on R 44 but instead to revisit Bains Kloof (Pass), Route 393.
There I passed Bakkie B and B which I thought I recognized from a previous visit with my brother in law Chris and his wife Sanny. I stopped for a mini picnic of Oma's Rusks with chipped biltong, Guava juice and a Damascus Traditional French Nougat bar high up near a group of schoolchildren out for a birthday party.
The place did look a bit unkept and made me think of the Dutch poem:

Next, I crossed the Bree (Wide) River and arrived at Route 45 with signs to Ceres and Worcester and later signboards with "Hoogwater train", "de Liefdepad" and
"Proe-Bietjie Outlier Tuinnywerheid en Koffiewinkel". I also picked up a lady hitchhiker on her way to Tulbach, and was amazed to see a traffic sign pointing to (huge)Capetown and tinyGouda.
I explored Gouda - which like Paarl belongs to the Drakenstein Municipality, but decided not to stay in the local Hotel Gouda but rather to drive on towards Porterville and Piketberg.
Around 15:00 I reached Porterville and turned off the main street to find a Bed and Breakfast. The road ended at the High School) - with a Coca Cola sign reading: "Hoerskool Porterville - Op die voorpunt - Grontslagfase 1-3" - and halfway there I stopped at the "Twin Tree B and B" -
where no one answered the bell. I sat down on the bench and waited, and in a few minutes the owner came over and mentioned he had seen me at the High School, from which he had recently retired as Chief Caretaker.
He showed me a room and quoted the rates: R 180 without and R 200 with breakfast. I took a welcome shower, had a nappy and around 17:30 walked back to the main road, at the corner of which was located " Villa Chocolatt".
a fine restaurant where I enjoyed a lovely T - bone steak, coffee milkshake and beer served by charming Ivan-leigh (heavenly) Williams. To my regret, a large party came over for dinner so she could not give me her undivided attention any longer...
thus I concentrated on the menu which featured such cute mistakes as: omellets, ceasar salad, snadwiches, sanwich, availble...At this time there was heavy traffic, literally, consisting of giant John Deere Harvesters.
By contrast, at the corner of the street was the hotelsign and a replica of a simple bicycle. I ended the dinner with an Amarula liquor
(not Hardehout Liquor), then waddled home noticing complete lack of security fences and gate, then watched some TV about Zimbabwe politics, melamine in milk and the firing of water expert Dr Turton, before going to sleep.
for more detail click
here - BLO fecit 20090419 - Contents of SA 2008-2 Journey